The United States of America has played a big role in the modern day (1896 to current) Olympic Games. In addition to hosting Olympic games (4 summer and 4 winter) in the country, the USA has been a significant force at the games including the number of athletes, the number of sports they compete in, the number of medals won, and world records achieved.
The United States has participated in every Olympics since 1896 except the 1980 Summer Olympics. In the most recent summer Olympics in London in 2012, the USA won a total of 46 Gold Medals, the most by any country, followed by China with 38. The USA also ranked first in total count with 104 gold, silver and bronze medals, followed by China who had 88 total medals.

In addition to its athletic contributions to the Olympic Games, the United States and US based companies have helped drive the financial growth of the Olympic movement through advertising, broadcasting rights, sponsorships, ticket sales and other rights and licensing programs. The revenue generated is in the billions of dollars.